Heir
nounA person who is legally entitled to inherit the property, title, or rank of another after that person dies.
How to spell heir
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce heir
What does heir mean?
- nounA person who is legally entitled to inherit the property, title, or rank of another after that person dies.
Heir in a sentence
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The eldest son was named sole heir to the family estate.
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As the only living heir, she inherited the entire fortune.
Where does heir come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word traces back to the Latin heres, meaning 'one who inherits' or 'successor to property', a form related to the idea of being left something when its owner dies. Latin passed it into Old French as 'heir', and English adopted it during the 1200s while keeping the French spelling and the silent opening letter. The 'h' was never pronounced in French and is still silent in English, which is exactly why writers reaching for the sound 'air' so often forget that the word begins with an h. The same heres root survives in the legal terms 'inherit', 'hereditary', and 'heritage', all of which deal with what passes from one generation to the next. Because the spoken word sounds identical to 'air', remembering the buried Latin root is the surest way to keep the silent h in place.
How the word is built
- heir (from Latin heres: one who inherits)
- silent h-
Words that sound like heir
They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.
- air: The invisible mixture of gases that surrounds the earth and that we breathe.
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